Swara and The Caged Parrot

Author: Saranya Iyer

Illustrator: Soumya Menon
Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Swara. She lived on the other side of Mangiri hills. In the
evenings, she loved playing on the hills with her friends.
The road which leads to the hill was a tree- lined road.
It was winter time and the hills received chilly winds in the evenings.
Swara and friends saw a tiny parrot on their path one evening. Swara's joy knew no bounds. 2/10
Swara chased down the parrot and caught it at once.
The terrified parrot looked at her helplessly but Swara did not leave her. She bought a cage for the
parrot and put her inside the cage.
The parrot shrieked loudly "Tain, Tain", yet Swara tuned deaf ear to her wild screams. The
parrot uttered a yelp as if hurt to seek attention of Swara but failed to get any.

3/10
She brought the parrot home. Placing it on a window sill, she admired the beauty of the parrot. She
offered some nuts. The parrot ate them but never stopped her scream.
Swara's mother entered the scene. Jumping with joy, Swara motioned her mother to speak to the
parrot. Her mother spoke to the parrot softly but the parrot turned its head to the other side.

4/10
Swara asked her mother why the parrot looked weak and uninterested. Her mother knew the real
reason. She said, " Swara, birds are beautiful and it is natural to bring them home and admire them.
They are a miracle of nature just like you. But remember, we should not cage them. They love being in
their own surroundings. You live in a house and they live with the nature, trees and in the fields. If you
are seperated from us and this place, would you feel comfortable?"

5/10
"No Mumma, No.", cried Swara hugging her mother.
"Then let's open the cage and get her out. Let her fly to its own surrounding. Even if we put her in
golden cage or offer her fresh fruits and nuts, that will never bring her real joy. Her real joy is living in
nature and with her friends", said her mother warmly.

6/10
Opening the cage, Swara and her mother let the parrot out. As soon as the cage was opened, the
parrot squealed in delight. The dull face of her was completely gone. Wearing the natural enthusiasm,
she circled the house twice and flew far away. Swara was happy to see the parrot's squawk. It was
surely a blissful sight to see her wings flapping. As she reached some distance, all her friends
accompanied her and welcomed her warmly to her home.

7/10
The following day, Swara was back in the garden with her friends. They jumped, ran and skipped. Near
the meadows and around the trees, they saw few birds which chirped gleefully and there on a tall tree,
was a parrot looking at her. Swara winked at the parrot and the parrot squeaked in response.
Happy was how everything looked.

8/10
"Empathy is putting yourself in one's shoes. Empathy is feeling others pain."

9/10
Name the characters in the story.
Name at least one setting (place) from the story.
What did you learn from the story?
Adjectives are describing words. Can you name 3 adjectives in the story?
Parents - Read aloud to your children and help them understand the difficult words. 10/10

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative
Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories -
provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this,
and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link.

Story Attribution:
 This story: Swara and The Caged Parrot is written by Saranya Iyer . © Saranya Iyer , 2020. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Images Attributions:
Cover page: Girl approaching parrot by the window, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.
Page 2: Children playing under trees, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: Girl
releases parrot from the cage, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: Girl
approaching parrot by the window, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Girl and
sad parrot, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: Girl and sad parrot, by Soumya
Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: Parrots flying into the sky, by Soumya Menon ©
StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 8: Children playing under trees, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver,
Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9: Parrots flying into the sky, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books,
2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: Parrots flying into the sky, by Soumya Menon © StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, 2016. Some
rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify,
distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking
permission. For full terms of use and attribution,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Swara and The Caged

Parrot A story about a little girl who finds a parrot and brings her home.
A parrot is not very pleased. The little girl's mother steps in and makes her
(English) understand about Empathy.

This is a Level 3 book for children who are ready to read on their own.
Pratham Books goes digital to weave a whole new chapter in the realm of multilingual children's stories. Knitting together children, authors, illustrators and
publishers. Folding in teachers, and translators. To create a rich fabric of openly licensed multilingual stories for the children of India and the world. Our unique
online platform, StoryWeaver, is a playground where children, parents, teachers and librarians can get creative. Come, start weaving today, and help us get a book
in every child's hand!